1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments are directed to an optical device and associated methods. More particularly, embodiments are directed to an optical device having enhanced performance and associated methods.
2. Description of Related Art
There are advantages and disadvantages to most types of materials used to make optical surfaces, i.e., surfaces having optical power, both in manufacturing and performance. For example, polymer materials may allow a wide variety of shapes to be accurately realized, and may provide more degrees of freedom in making wafer based optical elements. However, such materials may suffer from high temperature dependence of optical characteristics, e.g., refractive index, and mechanical characteristics, e.g., surface shape. Further, when a thickness of polymer material needed to create a specific lens design increases, excessive shrinkage and shape deformation may occur. In contrast, while glass has a relatively low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and a low optical thermal coefficient, when sags of glass lenses increases and a number of lenses to be created simultaneously increases, non-uniformity of the lenses may increase, reducing yield depending upon manufacturing techniques employed.
In order to realize improved performance, including over wider thermal ranges and more accurate chromatic performance, lenses may be made in different materials and then discretely packaged or secured together. However, such structures are not made monolithically and are thus expensive to manufacture, particularly in small form factors.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore it may contain information that does not form prior art.